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Anne Zieger is a healthcare journalist who has written about the industry for 30 years. Her work has appeared in all of the leading healthcare industry publications, and she's served as editor in chief of several healthcare B2B sites.

Today I stumbled across an article which I thought readers of this blog would find noteworthy. In the article, Art Gross, president and CEO at HIPAA Secure Now!, made an important point about BYOD policies. He notes that while much of today’s corporate computing is done on mobile devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets — most of which access their enterprise’s e-mail, network and data — HIPAA offers no advice as to how to bring those devices into compliance.

Given that most of the spectacular HIPAA breaches in recent years have arisen from the theft of laptops, and are likely proceed to theft of tablet and smartphone data, it seems strange that HHS has done nothing to update the rule to address increasing use of mobiles since it was drafted in 2003. As Gross rightly asks, “If the HIPAA Security Rule doesn’t mention mobile devices, laptops, smartphones, email or texting how do organizations know what is required to protect these devices?”

Well, Gross’ peers have given the issue some thought, and here’s some suggestions from law firm DLA Piper on how to dissect the issues involved. BYOD challenges under HIPAA, notes author Peter McLaughlin, include:

* Control: To maintain protection of PHI, providers need to control many layers of computing technology, including network configuration, operating systems, device security and transmissions outside the firewall. McLaughlin notes that Android OS-based devices pose a particular challenge, as the system is often modified to meet hardware needs. And in both iOS and Android environments, IT administrators must also manage users’ tendency to connected to their preferred cloud and download their own apps. Otherwise, a large volume of protected health data can end up outside the firewall.

* Compliance: Healthcare organizations and their business associates must take care to meet HIPAA mandates regardless of the technology they use. But securing even basic information, much less regulated data, can be far more difficult than when the company creates restrictive rules for its own devices.

* Privacy: When enterprises let employees use their own device to do company business, it’s highly likely that the employee will feel entitled to use the device as they see fit. However, in reality, McLaughlin suggests, employees don’t really have full, private control of their devices, in part because the company policy usually requires a remote wipe of all data when the device gets lost. Also, employees might find that their device’s data becomes discoverable if the data involved is relevant to litigation.

So, readers, tell us how you’re walking the tightrope between giving employees who BYOD some autonomy, and protecting private, HIPAA-protected information. Are you comfortable with the policies you have in place?

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